U.S. patent application number 11/350114 was filed with the patent office on 2007-08-30 for non-linear voicemail.
This patent application is currently assigned to Festin Enterprises Corporation. Invention is credited to Yair Winkler.
Application Number | 20070201626 11/350114 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38126395 |
Filed Date | 2007-08-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070201626 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Winkler; Yair |
August 30, 2007 |
Non-linear voicemail
Abstract
The present invention relates to a telecommunication system and
methods for accessing and using a voicemail system from a mobile
terminal, via a visual or voice interface. The present invention
enables the user to access a message directly, in a non-linear way,
without needing to go through all previous messages sequentially.
The mobile terminal user visualizes a list of all new voicemail
messages, or alternatively can listen to a description or summary
of available voicemail messages. Each voicemail message preferably
includes some additional details including date and time the
message was left, the duration of the message, the caller's number
when such information is available, and the sequential number of
the message in the list. In addition, the system displays the total
number of new messages available.
Inventors: |
Winkler; Yair; (Caesarea,
IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BROWDY AND NEIMARK, P.L.L.C.;624 NINTH STREET, NW
SUITE 300
WASHINGTON
DC
20001-5303
US
|
Assignee: |
Festin Enterprises
Corporation
Der Stadt
PA
|
Family ID: |
38126395 |
Appl. No.: |
11/350114 |
Filed: |
February 9, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
379/67.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 1/72433 20210101;
H04M 2207/18 20130101; H04M 3/53358 20130101; H04W 4/12 20130101;
H04M 3/537 20130101; H04M 3/53341 20130101; H04M 2203/4536
20130101; H04M 2201/40 20130101; H04M 3/5335 20130101; H04M 3/53333
20130101; H04M 2203/301 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
379/067.1 |
International
Class: |
H04M 1/64 20060101
H04M001/64 |
Claims
1. A method for accessing and using a voicemail system from a
mobile terminal, equipped with adapted software or hardware logic,
via a visual or voice interface, said method comprising the steps
of: (i) visualizing on said mobile terminal, or listening to a
description of, a list of voicemail messages available on said
voicemail system; (ii) selecting one or more voicemail messages
from said list; (iii) selecting an available voicemail command; and
(iv) executing selected voicemail command for all selected
voicemail messages.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said list contains
identifying information for each voicemail message.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said identifying
information is selected from the group consisting of: (i)
sequential message number, (ii) date and time message was left,
(iii) duration of the call, (iv) caller's phone number, and (v) any
combination of (i) to (iv).
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said caller's phone
number, when existing in the phone book memory of said mobile
terminal, is replaced with the name associated with said caller's
phone number in said mobile terminal phone book.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said voicemail command
is selected from the group consisting of: LISTEN to message, DELETE
message, SAVE MESSAGE to be heard later, CALLBACK the caller, ADD
PHONE NUMBER of the caller to the phone book of said mobile
terminal, and REPLY BY SMS to the caller.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said voicemail command
is executed by pressing the appropriate keys of a touch-tone mobile
terminal or by recognizing a spoken command via
voice-recognition.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a notification is
received on said mobile terminal after one or more new voicemail
messages are left on said voicemail system;
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said notification is
done via an Over The Air (OTA) application server.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said adapted software
or hardware logic is a SIM Toolkit application.
10. A telecommunication system for accessing and using a voicemail
system from a mobile terminal, equipped with adapted software or
hardware logic, via a visual interface, wherein said system
comprises: (i) means for visualizing on said mobile terminal a list
of voicemail messages available on said voicemail system; (ii)
means for selecting one or more voicemail messages from said list;
(iii) means for selecting an available voicemail command; (iv) a
predefined communication server; and (v) means for executing
selected voicemail command for all selected voicemail messages.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said list contains
identifying information for each voicemail message.
12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said identifying
information is selected from the group consisting of: (i)
sequential message number, (ii) date and time message was left,
(iii) duration of the call, (iv) caller's phone number, and (v) any
combination of (i) to (iv).
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said caller's phone
number, when existing in the phone book memory of said mobile
terminal, is replaced with the name associated with said caller's
phone number in said mobile terminal phone book.
14. The system according to claim 10, wherein said voicemail
command is selected from the group consisting of: LISTEN to
message, DELETE message, SAVE MESSAGE to be heard later, CALLBACK
the caller, ADD PHONE NUMBER of the caller to the phone book of
said mobile terminal, and REPLY BY SMS to the caller.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said voicemail
command is executed by pressing the appropriate keys of a
touch-tone mobile terminal or by recognizing a spoken command via
voice-recognition.
16. The system according to claim 10, wherein a notification is
received on said mobile terminal after one or more new voicemail
messages are left on said voicemail system.
17. The system according to claim 16, wherein said notification is
done via an Over The Air (OTA) application server.
18. The system according to claim 10, wherein said adapted software
or hardware logic is a SIM Toolkit application.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a communication system and
methods for accessing and using a voicemail system from a mobile
terminal, preferably via a visual interface.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Before voicemail systems were popular, when someone did not
answer his or her phone, the caller would simply have to try and
call later. Nowadays, almost every personal or professional
telephone is connected to a voicemail system where the caller can
leave a message that can be heard by the receiver at a later
stage.
[0003] Mobile operators typically bundle a voicemail box for each
subscriber. The voicemail system offers an obvious benefit to the
subscriber; the subscriber can receive messages when he is already
engaged in another communication, when he is away from his phone,
when the phone is turned off, when he is in an area without
adequate network reception, or simply if he does not wish to answer
the call.
[0004] Mobile operators view voicemail as an important source of
revenues. Some operators charge subscribers for the airtime used
when listening to voicemails. Even if the service is offered for
free to subscribers, operators enjoy additional usage revenues as a
consequence of voicemail systems. When a subscriber receives a
message, he will frequently call back the caller. Without the
voicemail system, the caller would try again to reach the mobile
subscriber, and the mobile subscriber would not generate an
outgoing call.
[0005] Access to the voicemail system is typically done via a voice
interface. The voicemail system may announce initially the total
number of new messages available. The user then needs to go through
and listen, or partially listen, to each message in order to get to
the next one. The messages are typically sorted by the order they
were received, thus the most recent message, that was left last,
will be heard last. The voicemail system may also provide some
additional information for each message such as time and date it
was left, the duration of the message, and when available also the
phone number of the caller.
[0006] The result of the above is that the user of the voicemail
system cannot access or see the details of a recent message, until
he is done with all the previous messages. This sequential access
to voicemail messages prohibits the user from getting direct access
to one specific message, and instead forces the user to engage in a
more time-consuming process of going through the messages one by
one.
[0007] It would be desirable to enable the user to know how many
messages he has, along with the relevant identifying information,
and then enable the user to access directly any message he wishes
to. This is the way people use an email system. One can see all new
messages along with the sender and subject, and then decide which
message he wants to open first.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention relates to a telecommunication system
and methods for accessing and using a voicemail system from a
mobile terminal, via a visual or voice interface. The present
invention enables the user to access a message directly, in a
non-linear way, without needing to go through all previous messages
sequentially. The mobile terminal user visualizes a list of all new
voicemail messages, or alternatively can listen to a description or
summary of available voicemail messages. Each voicemail message
preferably includes some additional details including date and time
the message was left, the duration of the message, the caller's
number when such information is available, and the sequential
number of the message in the list. In addition, the system displays
the total number of new messages available.
[0009] The mobile terminal user can then visually scan the list and
access each message directly, in any order he wishes to.
Alternatively, the user can access each message directly either by
pressing the appropriate keys of a touch-tone terminal (thus
generating Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency commands) or by speaking out
the right command that is recognized by a voice-recognition system.
For each selected voicemail message from the list, the user can
apply any available voicemail command. In one illustrative
embodiment, voicemail commands are selected from the group
consisting of: LISTEN to message, DELETE message, SAVE MESSAGE to
be heard later, CALLBACK the caller, ADD PHONE NUMBER of the caller
to said mobile terminal phone book, and REPLY BY SMS to the caller,
but other suitable voicemail commands are encompassed by the
present invention.
[0010] Preferably, a notification is sent to the mobile terminal
shortly after a new voicemail message is left on the voicemail
system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telecommunication system of
the invention comprising a mobile terminal, a communication server,
and a voicemail system.
[0012] FIG. 2 is an example of a voicemail message list displayed
on a mobile terminal's screen.
[0013] FIG. 3 is an illustration of voicemail commands that a user
can apply to previously selected voicemail messages.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0014] In the following detailed description of various
embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that
form a part thereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration
specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is
understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural
changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present
invention.
[0015] The present invention relates to a method for accessing and
using a voicemail system from a mobile terminal, equipped with
adapted software or hardware logic, via a visual or voice
interface, said method comprising the steps of: [0016] (i)
visualizing on said mobile terminal, or listening to a description
of, a list of voicemail messages available on said voicemail
system; [0017] (ii) selecting one or more voicemail messages from
said list; [0018] (iii) selecting an available voicemail command;
and [0019] (iv) executing selected voicemail command for all
selected voicemail messages.
[0020] FIG. 1 shows a telecommunication system according to the
present invention for the implementation of said method, comprising
a mobile terminal 10 connected via wireless means to a predefined
communication server 20 that in turn communicates with a voicemail
system 30.
[0021] The telecommunication system according to the present
invention enables access and use of a voicemail system 30 from a
mobile terminal 10, equipped with adapted software or hardware
logic, via a visual interface, wherein said system comprises:
[0022] (i) means for visualizing on said mobile terminal 10 a list
of voicemail messages available on said voicemail system 30; [0023]
(ii) means for selecting one or more voicemail messages from said
list; [0024] (iii) means for selecting an available voicemail
command; [0025] (iv) a predefined communication server 20; and
[0026] (v) means for executing selected voicemail command for all
selected voicemail messages.
[0027] The mobile terminal 10 is equipped with adapted software or
hardware logic that interacts with the predefined communication
server 20 and the mobile terminal 10 user.
[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a voicemail messages list
40 as displayed on the screen of a mobile terminal 10. A list of 7
voicemail messages in displayed in this example, each with summary
identifying information, in this case: the sequential message
number, caller's details and the time the voicemail message was
left. Each voicemail message can have additional identifying
information including the date the message was left and the
duration of the message. Since a mobile terminal 10 has a limited
screen size, displaying information can be organized according to
different preferences. In the example of FIG. 2, 7 messages are
displayed on one screen, but not with all the available identifying
information. Once a voicemail message is selected, additional
identifying information can be displayed in a second screen.
[0029] It can easily be conceived that all available identifying
information is displayed for each voicemail message, thus making
the voicemail messages list 40 shorter, displaying less messages
per screen.
[0030] Sometimes, the caller's phone number is not available to the
voicemail system, either because the caller selected not to
identify his calling number or because the mobile network did not
pass on this information. In the example of FIG. 2, message number
6 is marked from UNKNOWN.
[0031] In one embodiment of the present invention, the adapted
software or hardware logic compares the caller phone numbers of the
voicemail messages list 40 with phone numbers in the mobile
terminal 10 phone book memory. If a caller number is found within
the mobile terminal 10 phone book memory, then the voicemail
messages list 40 will display the name associated with the phone
book phone number instead. Thus in the example of FIG. 2, messages
2, 4 and 7 are shown as from John Que, Paula Jones and Henry
accordingly instead of displaying their phone numbers. This is far
more convenient for the mobile terminal 10 user, as he can
recognize immediately who the call was from.
[0032] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of voicemail commands 50 as
displayed on the screen of a mobile terminal 10. The selected
command from the voicemail commands 50 list will be applied to any
previously selected voicemail message or messages. FIG. 3 shows an
example of voicemail commands 50 that can be applied to one or more
voice messages: LISTEN--sends instructions to the predefined
communication server 20 to connect the mobile terminal 10 with the
voicemail system 30 and instructs the voicemail system 30 to play
the selected voicemail message or messages; DELETE--sends
instructions to the predefined communication server 20 to connect
to the voicemail system 30 and instructs the voicemail system 30 to
delete the selected voicemail message or messages; SAVE
MESSAGE--sends instructions to the predefined communication server
20 to connect to the voicemail system 30 and instructs the
voicemail system 30 to save the selected voicemail message or
messages so that they can be available for later use;
CALLBACK--sends instructions to the predefined communication server
20 to connect the mobile terminal 10 with the caller phone number
associated with the selected voicemail message or messages; ADD
NUMBER--adds the phone number of the caller of the selected message
or messages to the mobile terminal 10 phone book; and REPLY BY
SMS--enables the mobile terminal 10 user to send a short message
(SMS) as a reply to the selected voicemail message or messages.
[0033] The present invention may further contain means for alerting
the mobile terminal 10 after a new voicemail message is left on the
voicemail system 30. It is far more convenient for the user to
receive an alert after a new voicemail message has been left,
rather than check periodically if there are any new voicemail
messages waiting. The notification for a new message can be
achieved in various ways such as over the air activation (OTA), an
SMS message, via the Web, via an email message or via Unstructured
Supplementary Services Data (USSD). OTA is a very convenient way
for updating the mobile terminal 10 when a new voicemail message
arrives to the voicemail system 30. One advantage that OTA has over
other methods for sending information to a mobile terminal 10 is
that OTA is aware if the mobile terminal 10 is turned on and can
receive messages, or if it is not available in the network. A
mobile terminal 10 may be either turned off or in a zone without
adequate network coverage. Once the mobile terminal 10 is confirmed
to be available in the mobile network, the mobile terminal 10
receives one or more hidden short messages (SMS) with the pertinent
information regarding the new voicemail messages left on the
voicemail system 30. The adapted software or hardware logic on
mobile terminal 10 then receives the notification about the new
voicemail message received and alerts the mobile terminal 10 user
via a visual and/or audio indication.
[0034] The adapted software or hardware logic in said mobile
terminal 10 may take several forms. It may be a Subscriber
Identification Module (SIM) Toolkit application, or a higher-level
application, for example in C++ or in Java in higher end terminals
known as smart phones. The adapted software or hardware logic in
mobile terminal 10 may be delivered with the mobile terminal 10 at
the moment of purchase, or added at a later stage.
[0035] Using the SIM Toolkit to develop an application to interact
with the end-user and with the predefined communication server 20
is very convenient since SIM Toolkit applications work with a very
large number of mobile terminals. Smart phone applications, aided
by the smart-phone typical larger screen and increased memory, are
more user-friendly for the end-user though the number of
smart-phones is more limited.
[0036] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will
so fully reveal the general nature of the invention that others
can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for
various applications such specific embodiments without undue
experimentation and without departing from the generic concept,
and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are
intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of
equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood
that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the
purpose of description and not limitation. The invention described
herein in the recited claims intends to cover and embrace suitable
changes in the technology.
* * * * *